From last week Age, this article continues the discussion on the state government's proposed new residential zones: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/danger-zone-planning-the-citys-future-must-include-consultation-20120713-221gk.html...

News

At next Monday's Council meeting (3 June) it is expected the new planning scheme schedules will be approved by Banyule Council. These schedules are the planning scheme amendments that contain the guidelines outlined in the Structure Plan. Council approving the schedules triggers two key actions:

The schedules are sent to the Department of Planning & Community Development for approval to have them added to the planning scheme. This process can take many months to complete.

Council formally requests the Planning Minister, Matthew Guy, approve interim planning controls, based on the guidelines in the schedules. We understand this approval can happen in a matter of weeks.

What does this mean? Once interim planning controls are granted the schedules become the guidelines that Banyule's planning department and VCAT use to assess development applications.

Shortly after these two actions there will be a further opportunity for the community to review the new schedules and provide feedback to Council. If you provided feedback to the original draft structure plan Council will be in contact with you when the new schedules are available for community review. In the last few months the Save Ivanhoe Resident's Group have had two representatives on the Community Consultative Council (CCC) and have reviewed the draft schedules and provided feedback. In our opinion we believe the schedules are consistent with the guidelines outlined in the Structure Plan. But please do your own review once the documents become available.

We would once again like to thank Banyule Council officers, Councillors, the CCC members and the community for getting to this important stage.